What is Rains?

The Rains Research Assistant Program supports faculty research by providing financial support for faculty to hire a student research assistant. In addition, the program allows students to develop research experiences and close collaborations with their faculty and other members of their research group.

This program is available to all full-time tenured & tenure-track faculty. Faculty members on a leave of absence are not eligible.

NOTICE: Please click "How to Apply" for additional information and the Rains application.

PLEASE NOTE that Rains has multiple submission and review dates. These dates are not strict deadlines, but should be used by faculty as guidelines on when they will hear back about their applications. The date of faculty submission (not Chair approval) will be considered for review dates.

    • Submissions submitted by May 1, 2024 will be reviewed by May 10, 2024
    • Submissions submitted by May 31, 2024 will be reviewed by June 7, 2024
    • Submissions submitted by August 2, 2024 will be reviewed by August 9, 2024
    • Submissions submitted by August 23, 2024 will be reviewed by August 30, 2024
    • Submissions submitted by September 15, 2024 will be reviewed by September 20, 2024
    • Submissions submitted by October 4, 2024 will be reviewed by October 11, 2024
    Note: If there are remaining funds, applications submitted after October 4 will be reviewed by November 15, 2024 and February 3, 2025.